My Favorite Wargame Cards – A Look at Individual Cards from My Favorite Games – Card #30: Mile by Mile from The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games

With this new My Favorite Wargame Cards Series, I hope to take a look at a specific card from the various wargames that I have played and share how it is used in the game. I am not a strategist and frankly I am not that good at games but I do understand how things should work and be used in games. With that being said, here is the next entry in this series.

Card #30: Mile by Mile from The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games

I have played several hidden movement games over the years and enjoyed them all. Some of these titles have included wargames such as They Come Unseen from Osprey Games, Sniper Elite: The Board Game from Rebellion Unplugged and Bomber Command from GMT Games as well as a few board games including Hunt for the Ring from Ares Games. The concept of moving cautiously, attempting to evade pursuers, all while trying to locate and acquire or destroy objectives makes for a very interesting gaming experience. These situations can make for some really tense games that cause your head to ache and your wits to be tested. But they rely on some bluffing as well. Trying to force your opponent to anticipate where they think you should be and then trying not to be there. A really great mechanic in board games but not always easy to pull off and make for a very playable and interesting game. In 2022, we played a new design from Matthias Cramer and Engin Kunter that took this hidden movement concept and put it into a historically based game about the struggle over control of the South Atlantic between the British Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine during the early years of World War II called The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games.

The Hunt is a Card Driven Game where the German player has to attempt to stay hidden while trying to sink merchant shipping as the Royal Navy hunts for them throughout the South Atlantic. The players each have asymmetric actions to use to accomplish their missions and each has a tough time doing what they have to do. But, if they manage their cards wisely, using them as effectively as possible, they can successfully either evade their pursuer or catch their prey.

In The Hunt, the German player is trying to hunt down shipping while staying hidden from the searching British. This situation is really a challenge for both players and creates some fantastic tension. With today’s card, Mile by Mile, we will take a look at how the Royal Navy can use its ability to assist in this hunt. Remember that in the game, the Graff Spee is moving around the board through hidden movement that is tracked by the German player. The only way that the British player can be sure where they are is when they appear and fire on merchant shipping. But they can use cards like Mile by Mile to force the German player to give a Hint Marker that will reveal where the battleship could be. When a card forces the German player to place out a Hint Marker on the board, they must place it in the same space as, or adjacent to, the Admiral Graf Spee. Spaces that already contain a Hint marker or the Altmark are not allowed. Once the Graf Spee moves though, the Hint Marker will be removed.

Mile by Mile forces the German player to place out a Hint Marker and can really be a devastating development if they are near the Royal Navy. It won’t reveal exactly where they are but it has to be placed in a space adjacent to or where the Graf Spee currently is located. This can mean that they are in the 7 hexes around the Hint Marker, the one where the marker is placed as well as the 6 hexes adjacent. Better than the entire South Atlantic but not by much.

Also remember, that in order to find the Graf Spee, the British player can conduct a search in any space containing any of their Forces on the board for 1 Action Point. These Action Points come from the printed value shown on the cards and higher value cards are very important to both sides as they will allow the taking of several different actions on the turn they are played. One of those actions available to the British player is the Search and Attack Action, which is used to find the Graf Spee and send her to the bottom. When the Search and Attack Action is taken, the player will move to a space that they expect contains the hidden Graf Spee and then will get to roll the special 6-sided die. The Search will be successful with a die roll of 5+ and this can be modified by using the British Intelligence Action to play a card from their hand for the printed power located on the bottom of the card which normally gives a +1 for the Search Action. Each Force can only search once per turn so it is very important to make this count as you won’t get many of them in the game. A success will cause a Battle if the Admiral Graf Spee is located in the searched space. Mile by Mile allows the British player to move each of their Task Forces once space and then to conduct a Search Action. This is a great opportunity for the Royal Navy, particularly if they have positioned themselves well to take advantage of the card.

The name of the card (Mile by Mile) comes from a quote of Admiral Harwood where he stated “he would search the South Atlantic mile by mile if necessary” when hunting the German pocket battleship Graf Spee. This quote highlights his determined pursuit and the meticulous nature of the search operation.

Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, (19 January 1888 – 9 June 1950) was a Royal Navy officer who won fame in the Battle of the River Plate during World War II. Harwood commanded a squadron consisting of the heavy cruisers HMS Cumberland and HMS Exeter, and the light cruisers HMS Achilles and HMS Ajax. He flew his broad pennant in Ajax as his flagship. The squadron was deployed to the South Atlantic against the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which was attacking Allied shipping there.

Harwood suspected that Graf Spee would try to strike next at the merchant shipping off the River Plate estuary.

With Cumberland being absent for repairs, Harwood deployed his other three cruisers off the estuary on 12 December. In the ensuing Battle of the River Plate on 13 December, Harwood’s cruisers were damaged, but so was Graf Spee, which fled to Montevideo in neutral Uruguay. She was scuttled there a few days later. For this action, Harwood was promoted to rear admiral and knighted.

Here also is a link to our full video review of the game: